


together

by eg1701



Series: thorbruce and endgame [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Kind of an au?, Like just a LITTLE bit, M/M, There's an engagement then a marriage!, endgame also made me sob, it's really just them all talking to each other, so there's that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 12:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eg1701/pseuds/eg1701
Summary: (some) ENDGAME SPOILERSBruce hadn't seen Thor in twelve days, since all that business with Thanos, but that was long enough, and it was time for them to figure things out together.





	together

**Author's Note:**

> There are endgame spoilers in this! They aren't super major, but this will spoiled things for you so please please watch the movie before this!
> 
> thanks for reading!

It had been almost twelve days since Bruce had seen Thor.  


He was pretty sure where he was, holed up in the new community Asgard had begun to build, one that would take time to build, but that Bruce thought would be lovely when it was done, but Thor had left abruptly, and something told Bruce he wanted to be alone.  


So Bruce left him alone.  


For the first few days, they all sat around, not doing much of anything. For that brief moment, they thought they could win. Wakanda had been a loss, there was no doubt about that, but not only had they found Thanos, but with Carol, they had about ten times more power then before, probably more, if the little bit Bruce had seen was any indicator of what she could do. Bruce had been wary, but it would work, it would have to. They were the Avengers, they couldn’t lose.  


(He knew that was stupid, but he tried to think it anyway.)  


But they they’d lost again. Thanos was dead, Thor saw to that, but the stones were gone and that was the only way to bring back anyone. What would they do now? Infinity stones weren’t something you could just make more of.  


The answer, it seemed, was try to move on as best they could. They regrouped, the ones who were left, the ones who wanted to remain. There was a brief time when they shot ideas back and forth, but they were half hearted, and everyone knew too hopeful. What they needed was to go back in time, but as far as Bruce knew, time travel was still science fiction.  


(Tony and Pepper didn’t say where they were going. Bruce didn't blame them. He smiled, said goodbye, and wished them well. Maybe they didn’t know where they were going either.)  


He’d tried to talk to Thor. He thought that maybe, if no one else could, he’d be able to get through to him somehow. There had been some progress after they returned from Wakanda, one night where they’d sat outside in the rain. Bruce hadn’t talked, and Thor had only said a few words, but he’d rested his head on Thor’s shoulder, and held onto his arm and it had been enough for that moment.  


But now Thor was gone, probably (hopefully, Bruce wasn’t sure what he’d do if he’d taken off to another planet) in what Bruce had called New Asgard, but right now it was nothing more than a tract of land and some old cottages. He knew asgard was a people, not a place, that’s what they’d said, but they still needed somewhere to stay.  


Bruce hated the silence of the compound. He understood and respected the silence, but it was also slowly driving him insane. He and his mother used to work in silence around each other, avoiding each other’s eyes and doing mundane tasks extra slowly to avoid unnecessarily quietly out of some hope that the silence would make things better.  


It wasn’t doing that.  


So, on the thirteenth day, he threw some things into a bag, and said he was leaving.  


“Where are you going?” Nat asked, her voice oddly stiff.  


He shrugged, “To talk to Thor I guess.”  


She nodded, “Don’t stay away too long. Tell Thor not to be a stranger.”  


He smiled, “I won’t. You’ll be ok?”  


“Steve’s here, mostly, and the others off and on. We’re still figuring it out but I’m not alone.”  


“Good. Call me if you need anything.”  


“I will.”  


It was awkward, almost painfully so, but everyone’s chatter had been lately, and so it wasn’t just him. He thought that no one knew how to interact with each other anymore. Survivors guilt was overwhelming, and they all blamed themselves but wouldn’t come out and say it because everyone else would be quick to assure them it wasn’t.  


Who did you talk to about this? A therapist? What would they say? What would anyone say? This was new territory.  


Bruce smiled again at her, and gave her had a squeeze. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping well. It was something else they all had in common.

Bruce considered himself kind of lucky. He hated it, that he’d been relatively untouched by Thanos when others had lost everyone. Clint wasn’t answering, but Natasha seemed convinced he was around, but his family maybe not so much. It would explain  


He had called Betty, something he hadn’t done in years, but she didn't answer. Something in his gut told him she wouldn’t be. They hadn’t seen each other in years, but there was something about first loves that made them important, and he had wanted, desperately to know if she was gone.  


But Thor had made it, so had the other four of the original Avengers. Pepper, who had been so wonderful when they’d first met wasn’t going anywhere. Most of Asgard was gone, that much was true, but he was willing to do anything to help them as much as he could, a people who had taken him in so easily, when most of Earth thought of him as the Hulk, and the Hulk as a monster.  


These thoughts were flying through his mind as he made his way to the village on the coast. He hadn’t actually been here before, but Bruce thought it suited Asgard nicely. They deserved a peaceful life, after everything that had happened.  


He parked, leaving everything in the rented truck, and looked for someone to ask about Thor. It had been nearly twenty days now, and Bruce had discovered travelling in a post-Thanos world was easier and harder, and by the time he’d gotten there, another week had passed.  


“Banner.”  


He turned at the sound of a familiar voice, even if the voice didn’t sound all that friendly.  


Brunnhilde looked a lot different than the last time they’d seen each other, dressed in a vest and jeans, her hair tied back. She set down the box she was holding and her hands on her hips.  


“I was wondering when you’d show up.”  


Bruce shrugged, “He wanted to be alone.”  


“I figured that. Still wondered.”  


“It looks good here,” Bruce said, glancing around, “You guys have worked fast.”  


She nodded, “We had to. If you want to see him, he should be up there, that house on the hill there. He doesn’t leave very often. Blames himself.”  


“It’s no one’s fault.”  


She shrugged, and the wind picked up, blowing her hair across her face, “You try telling him that. He doesn’t want to do shit. I guess I don’t blame him but you can try and knock some sense into him. He’s your boyfriend after all.”  


“We’re technically engaged,” Bruce replied, kicking as a loose stone in the pavement and feeling like a little kid, 

“We were going to get married when we got to Earth but then everything happened.”  


“Yeah,” she jammed her hands into her back pockets, “Well, if you can get him to get his head out of his own ass for five minutes, tell him there’s a people that need him, a planet that could use his help. Thanos may be dead, but this isn’t over.”  


Bruce nodded, “I know. I’m sorry.”  


“Just go talk to him.”

Bruce considered knocking, then decided to just go in. The door was unlocked, and at first he thought no one was home. The curtains were drawn, the lights dimmed. He frowned, and looked around. There were beer cans crushed on the tables and couch and half empty bottles littered the table. Bruce went over and pulled the curtains back, to at least let the light in.  


The place hadn’t been set up fully, and also hadn’t been cleaned, probably at all.  


“Thor?” He called, glancing into the kitchen. The place seemed deserted, but Brunnhilde had said he rarely left, what were the odds he was gone just as Bruce showed up.  


He didn’t like the eeriness of the house. It could have been lovely. It was situated on the sea, and the windows, if they weren’t covered, would have let in enough light that they wouldn’t even need lamps. It was the kind of home that 

Bruce thought he would never have. He thought about hosting dinner here, with maybe Tony and Pepper, or the original team, if they ever learned to get their shit together. Clint’s kids might like to run around outside.  


He shook the stupid thought away.  


Up the stairs he went, figuring Thor might be asleep. It smelled faintly of beer up here, a scent that reminded Bruce of his childhood, and he wondered absentmindedly if Earth beer was enough to get Thor drunk or if all of the empty cans showed that he’d needed twice as much.  


He opened doors on his way, until he finally found who he was looking for.  


Thor was snoring, asleep in his clothes. It looked like he just fell into bed, probably passed out drunk.  


Bruce wasn’t sure if he was mad or not.  


He pulled the curtains back, and shook Thor until he woke up.  


“Banner?” he’s asked groggily, “What’re you doing here?”  


“Finding you. What the hell is this?”  


“I failed.”  


“And? We all failed. We lost, and this is no way to behave. When I hit rock bottom, you pulled me back out so I’m doing the same. Get up, take a shower because you smell like beer and it’s making me sick, and come downstairs so we can talk, I’m not talking to you hungover in your bed.”  


Without another word he stood up and left. If Thor was going to pass back out, he didn’t want to see it.

He waited half an hour. His mother had always cleaned the kitchen when she was thinking, and so Bruce had gathered as many of the cans as he could and filled three garbage bags, and did the dishes while he waited. He told himself he would wait an hour and then he would leave and that would be that. Bruce loved Thor, that wasn’t the question, and he wanted to help. Thor felt guilty, felt it was his fault, and Bruce would be there to work through it with him, but if he wanted to sit alone in the house and drink three cases of beer a day, Bruce wasn’t going to sit there with him and watch.  


“Hey,” Thor said, standing in the doorway. He looked better after cleaning up, but he still needed to eat something that wasn’t alcohol and probably get some sun. The sweatshirt hung loosely on him, and in the light, Bruce saw the dark circles under his eyes.  


“Sit down.” Bruce nodded toward the other chair at the table, “Let’s chat.”  


Thor sat, “I didn’t expect you to be here.”  


“Don’t really know why,” Bruce crossed his arms, “I’m only your fiancé.”  


Thor cracked a smile, “I guess Thanos was mad we weren’t going to invite him to the wedding.”  


“Guess so. Listen, this isn't healthy. I get you want to be drunk and not think about what happened. But you can’t.”  


“It’s my fault.”  


“Then it’s my fault for not stopping him on the ship, and Tony’s fault for whatever happened on Titan. It’s Steve’s fault for not being able to hold him back, Nat’s fault for not being able to take him out and Carol’s fault for not getting here and Wanda’s fault for not being able to destroy the stone sooner. It’s Clint’s fault for being under house arrest. No one is to blame or all of us are. I don’t know how to get that through your thick head. This doesn’t rest with just you.”  


“I had Stormbreaker. I could have done it. And now what?”  


“You did. But Thanos had six infinity stones. And that was more than any of us to handle, we know how powerful just one is. Now, honey, we have to move on. We can go back to the compound and talk with the others, and work ourselves into an early grave trying to figure out what to do, or we can try to help whoever is left. That’s what Nat and other others are trying to do, help who’s left, or we can start here, and help your people. You’re their king Thor, like it or not, and they need you. This is a new place, and they’d all lost people. Or you can stay in this dark house and drink all day and night, but you can do that alone.”  


Thor considered this, “You spoke with Brunnhilde.”  


It wasn’t a question, just a statement, like he just realized it.  


“I did. I saw her when I pulled up. She said you’ve been hiding in here. That you never come out.”  


“I suppose my behavior is-”  


Bruce help up a hand, “You’ve had a traumatic experience and that’s fine. Your actions are valid and I’m guilty of running from my problems as well, but now I’m here to help you and you’re going to start working through it, together, because that’s what people who love each other do. Alright?”  


“I suppose so.”  


“Good.” Bruce stood up, “Are you hungry? Is there any food here? Why don’t you go see the progress everyone has made, and I’ll try and find something for dinner. Invite Brunnhilde over, since I have a feeling she’s been leading everyone and you can find out what’s been going on.”  


Thor nodded, “Right. Probably. She’s like that.”  


“It’s what she needs to do. You ought to give her your thanks.”  


“I know.”

_Five years later_

The early morning air drifted in through the open window. Bruce sat up, sighing, and reached out for Thor who wasn’t there. The bed was cold, so he must have been up for a while. He got up and went into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, trying to wake himself up. If Thor was already up, there must be things to do today, and he wanted to at least be aware, if not fully awake.  


Bruce pulled on a sweatshirt, and went searching for his husband.  


There were other voices in the living room, which was odd, since Bruce hadn’t heard the front door, and it was a little early for anyone to be visiting. But he knew one voice, one he hadn’t heard in a few months.  


“Nat,” he said, “Steve.”  


There was a third man, who seemed to be unable to stay still, shifting his weight and glancing around. Bruce thought he looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t remember the name.  


“Hey Bruce,” Steve nodded politely. It’d been a while since he’d seen Steve, who had taken a gig running a group session for people affected by the snap. He wasn’t usually there when Bruce visited the compound.  


They shook hands and he hugged Natasha, and Thor pushed them into the kitchen to talk. He must have been even more surprised to seem them than Bruce was.  


“I’m Scott,” the third man said, although no one had actually asked, “Ant-man.”  


“Oh” Bruce said, “I heard about you. You get big as well? Love to talk to you about that later.”  


Thor found some extra chairs and dragged them to the breakfast table, making it look even more mismatched than before, since they had exactly two chairs that matched. Thor already made coffee, and Bruce offered it around.  


“Here honey,” Bruce handed Thor his, “What’s going on guys? Is everything ok?”  


“We think,” Nat paused and took a breath, “We think we have an idea.”  


“An idea?” Bruce asked, “What do you mean?”  


“We might know how to bring them back.”  


It wasn’t what either of them expected to hear, and Thor met his eyes with a look that made him think that Thor believed them to be getting their hopes up, all these years later. Bruce wasn’t so sure. If they were here, asking, there had to be some real change, something had happened that made something previously impossible a little more possible.  


“And how’s that?” he asked.  


“In short,” Steve said, and Bruce notiched how hard he was gripping his coffee, “Time travel.”  


“That’s not possible,” Bruce said, because that had been his first thought too, “This isn’t Back to the Future.”  


Scott shook his head, “I thought that too, but we might be able to do it. When Thanos did his thing, I was trapped in the Quantum Realm. I only just got out, and found out that five years passed here, but it was only five hours for me. 

There has to be some kind of way to manipulate everything, to go in now and come out in the past.”  


“This is more Tony’s area,” Bruce said, “I suppose in theory but I don’t know if I could make it work.”  


Natasha and Steve shared an uncomfortable look, like they knew he’d say that.  


“We, uh, talked to him,” Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck, “He’s out. He’s got a daughter, got a life. He said it wouldn’t work. You’re our last shot.”  


Under the table, Thor’s hand found his. The possibility of bringing everyone back was something they’d discussed before, but always as a dream, something they could never really do. Was this a real possibility?  


“Of course,” Bruce said after a moment, “I can try. Of course I can try but I don’t know if I can do it.”  


“It’s more than we have now,” Nat said, “We have to try.”  


“Right. Well, let’s eat breakfast and we can head back together.”  


The thought of somehow undoing Thanos was a wonderful one. Half the population had simply ceased to exist, family members, and friends, and lovers who were just no more. Didn’t he owe it to them to try? He’d spoken with Tony about Peter, and Steve about Bucky. He owed it to them. Tony had a daughter now, Bruce understood. If he and Thor had started to build a family, this might be a different story, but he could try. And if he failed, the world would continue as it was, half empty and angry. Personally, he thought failure was the only option, but they had to at least try.

Thor came with him, relinquishing leadership to Brunnhilde. Bruce had a feeling he was thinking of doing that permanently, but they hadn’t discussed that yet and now they wouldn’t until whenever they got back. He told Thor he could stay home. Bruce couldn’t begin to fathom how long this might take. It might last two days, as long as it took to realize this was a good idea but not possible, but it might be six months of tests.  


But Thor seemed to think it was his solemn duty to accompany his husband on this one and it wasn’t like Bruce was going to say no. It was the first time Thor had been the compound since returning back to earth. Bruce always invited him to come when he visited, but he always refused. Now, however, he must have known this was different, that what they were doing was more important.  


Bruce did not know what he was doing, really. He had a vague notion sure, and the tests they’d run hadn’t been utter failures, they just hadn’t work, To be fair, they didn’t teach time travel in school and his professors probably would have laughed at him if he tried to bring it up, It was a lot of mixing things together and theorizing. He understood the principles, but the execution was something else.  


He was relieved when Tony showed up with the answers. (And Steve’s shield). Bruce had managed to piece together what exactly had happened back in 2016, but no one really wanted to talk much about it, and everyone had their own version of it. He was kind of glad to have missed it.  


“I knew you could do it,” Bruce said with a smile as Tony clapped him on the back.  


“Of course,” Tony raised his hands, “How many PhDs do you have again?”  


“Careful,” Bruce replied, and relinquished the controls to Tony, laughing, “Thank you for coming. I thought you might not. I wouldn’t have blamed you.”  


“I thought so too. But I did it. I had an idea and I figured it out, and I thought I’d just leave it at that. Time travel sounds nice but there’s so much else to figure out. But I wouldn’t be able to do that, have the answers and not use them.”  


“What’s your daughter’s name?” Bruce asked, “Steve said you had one.”  


“Morgan. She’s the best thing to ever happen to me, but I got to thinking about Pete. He was my kid too you know? I thought, if we could bring them back but not change anything here? And with the stones we could. How could 

I rest knowing that I might be able to bring them back?”  


“I’m happy for you Tony, you and Pepper.” Bruce nodded, “And I understand.”  


“So tell me, is it Dr. Banner-Odinson now? Is that even a last name or a more of a title? How does that work?”  


Bruce smiled, “I think it’s more of a title, they don’t really have surnames in Asgard. It’s kind of insane, to be married to a king. I always forget he’s a king, because he’s a big dork. If only my mother could see me now.”  


Tony laughed, “I’m happy for you too. Want to help me with this?”  


“You know it. Just like old times.”  


“Well, let’s get started then.”

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on tumblr (endgame? lots to unpack) at feuillytheflorist  
> i'm always taking prompts so if there's something u want to see let me know!


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